It's been ages since an anthology of short stories or any story has made me feel this level of genuine unease.

I felt such a perverse fascination with the stories inside and couldn't stop myself from reading them all in one go.

Each of the tales stands alone, but they are all connected by a common theme - the artistic eye. The worlds it can see and the worlds it can shape.

The imagery within the stories is both beautiful and terrifying. Fascinating and unnerving. And above all, queer.

I personally enjoyed the amount of cosmic horror sprinkled throughout the collection.

I would definitely recommend this anthology to both dedicated and casual fans of the horror genre.

I would like to thank Weirdpunk Books and Sam Richards for giving me a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

As a fan of Weekes's work for writing characters and dialogue for Bioware games, I was really keen to read this book.

Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy it very much. It felt like it would have read better as a screenplay or recited in a visual medium.

It relied heavily on dialogue, and with almost every line being a joke, quip, or punchline, it felt like the author was just trying too hard to be funny or quirky.

The humour in this book also really required comedic timing, which just wasn't achieved.

The characters were supposed to feel individual, established, and interesting, but they mostly felt like poor archetypes.

The whole 'everyone dies but everyone actually survives' coupled with the 'everyone finds love in the end' made for a disappointing conclusion.

'They Drown Our Daughters' really drew me in from early on. I liked the multiple POV chapters that gave glimpses into the different women's lives and the strong theme of strained mother/daughter relationships. I was intrigued by the idea of a multi-generational curse and was excited to see where the story would go.

Unfortunately, the story barely goes anywhere at all for the majority of the book. The story starts off well, but then it just drags on for chapter after chapter after chapter. I considered DNFing multiple times, but I was genuinely interested in how the curse would play out, so I kept at it...and at it...and at it. 

In the end, I jumped from dialogue to dialogue just so I could know the outcome.
The ending was objectively interesting as well, but I was too worn out by the drawn-out bulk of the book to really appreciate or enjoy it.

When I first read the title of this book and then saw the subtitle, my reaction honestly wasn't that positive. A book called "Ace Voices" that bundled 'aromantic' people under the ace umbrella was bound to be problematic reading for me, an allo-aro. So I was pleasantly surprised when Eris Young addressed how a lot of early ace activism inadvertently contributed to (and stills contributes to) the erasure of certain groups, including aromantic allosexual people, early on. 

Aromantic representation is extremely minimal, and what spaces exist for aromantics are usually a bi-product of ace spaces, so it was refreshing and validating to see allo-aros explicitly considered and included for a change.

Young encourages the reader to consider their preconceived notions regarding sex and romance and the societal narratives that exist around both. 

By including their own personal experiences and those of members of A-spec communities, Young has produced a queer own voice text that is inclusive and celebratory as well as informative and probing.

I especially appreciated the inclusion of discussion questions at the end of each chapter.

Whilst this is a fictional tale about one girl surviving the pandemic in Wuhan, this story closely echoes the real-world experience of many young people living in Wuhan during the initial and ongoing outbreak of COVID-19.

We get glimpses of what life in Wuhan, China was like, and how the authorities and locals responded to the crisis.

Mei is young, smart, caring, and creative, and the way she manages to unite her friends and community to ensure everyone has food is really inspiring. 

I absolutely love the inclusion of recipes for many of the wonderful sounding dishes she prepares. I've even noted down a few to try out myself.

I really enjoyed this book. I actually went straight online after finishing it and purchased a paperback version of it as well as the next book in the series.

Can I just say how awesome it is to have an aromantic protagonist? Especially an allo-aro one?

I really loved a lot about this story but the world building was especially brilliant. I love the depth and complexity of the hmun society that Silver has created. The lunar phasal method for determining gender was particularly fascinating to me.

I pretty much immediately warmed up to every single character within moments of meeting them. I really enjoyed the character development and the way that Sohmeng and Hei's relationship develops.
Given the protagonists' ages, I'm assuming that is considered a young adult novel, but I never got that uncomfortable, unrelatable feeling I usually get when I read YA fiction.

I'm was really keen to read the next book so I bought the ebook as well so I could read it while I waited for my hard copy to arrive!

This was an interesting book that looks at the importance of wheat and its role in historical events, especially in relation to world conflict.

While the author makes many good points and connections, I did feel like they were sometimes intentionally blind to other elements that were relevant, if not more relevant.

I also feel that the subtitle 'How American Wheat Remade the World' is a strange choice given how little influence American wheat has had in relation to the grand scale of history. 

I thought this book would be heavily focused on American wheat and the American wheat industry, but it has a greater focus on Russian and European wheat.

The narration by Jason Arnold was good, but the book doesn't lend itself well to being an audiobook due to the amount of statistics and numbers involved in several sections.

Set towards the end of the 19th century, The Eidola Project is an intriguing story set in two parts. The first part of the story introduces us to the five members of the Eidola Project - a group formed to investigate paranormal phenomenon from a scientific perspective. 

From a quick google search of noted events, I believe the story is set in 1885, or close to, as the American Civil War has ended and a period of twenty years has elapsed since the Battle of Fort Stedman. As such, it's a world deeply entrenched in racial segregation and white supremacy. 

This is relevant as one of the main protagonists is a Black man. Despite being well-educated and holding a Ph.D, he is frequently met with racism and treated as a second-class citizen. The other members of the group, except for one, treat him has an equal. However, they also do not come to his defence or defend his rights when other members of society mistreat him. I mention this as it may be upsetting for some readers.

The story itself is quite interesting and follows the paths that lead all the members to the group before they set out to investigate a haunted house on Nantucket.

While the story is definitely a period horror, its atmosphere felt more akin to an adventure novel at times due to the overtones of curiosity and investigation. 

While I enjoyed the story, I did feel the final scene was a little too succinct. Once the main reveal was reached, the story wrapped up very quickly. I wasn't sure if I had skipped a page and actually went back to check.

Other than that, my only other criticism is in regards to the book's cover. I think it insinuates a little too much about the story and makes the outcome rather expected. I think a more subtle cover would be best, but that's just me.

The Eidola Project is the first book in a series.

I'd like to thank Robert Herold for giving me a free digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. 

DNF

This story has two protagonists - Natasha and Della - and the chapters are split between the two. The story is told in first person narration, which works surprisingly well. Usually, I find split narration stories to feel disjointed and find it hard to become immersed with the tale, but that wasn't an issue with this book.

I really enjoyed the world building and the natural environments. I found myself really interested in Della's story and actively looked forward to her chapters. She was a complex but sympathetic character, and I was keen to see where her family's story would go.

Natasha, on the other hand, I could not stand. At all. She is the most infuriating character I have ever read. Her entitled, self-centred, lack of self-awarness attitude made me want to give up on the book multiple times but my interest in Della kept me from doing that...until I reached the part in the story where Natasha and Della's stories merged completely and then I had no escape from Natasha's toxicity. I couldn't keep going since even Della's chapters were now full of Natasha's drama.

Initially, I placed the book on my NRN (not right now) pile, but every time I considered picking it back up, I genuinely felt a visceral repulsion at doing so. 
In the end, I decided to read an online synopsis instead. 

The story seems to end in an appropriate manner, although I do have two criticisms:

1. I think the entire "I have magic too now" thing was hard to swallow, especially since up until then, it seemed to be a familial thing that requires training and practise.

2. The romance. Seriously? Was this just the alloromantic need to couple people off or what? Sure, a little physical attraction was mentioned here and there, but how does that trump Natasha being awful to Della?


I'd have raged at the point if I had kept reading.

Lonely outcast girl falls for the pretty rich girl despite the pretty rich girl treating the lonely outcast girl like trash for most of the book.

I'm seriously sick of unhealthy relationships being portrayed as the 'goal' or 'best outcome' in young adult literature. 

"The Bloody Tracks of Bigfoot" is the quintessential Eighties monster horror film, only in book form.

It has everything you want from a cult classic horror - vapid victims, extreme violence and gore, '80's pop culture references, twists you see coming from a mile away, and a seemingly unkillable killer.

It takes a little while to get to the action, but once it does, it doesn't let up.

This book is exactly what you expect it to be, and it doesn't disappoint.